Deanna Kim Bassett leads Ernst & Young's workplace inclusiveness initiative in the eight offices in the company's Midwest region.  She works with offices from Des Moines to Chicago on building plans for attracting and retaining talent.  Inclusiveness is about valuing everyone's points of views, experiences, style and thinking.  She infuses new ideas and challenges our professionals to facilitate meaningful dialog around issues that matter in the workplace.  Deanna has worked for E&Y for over 20 years, the last three of which have been in her current position. 

 

 

Ouraphone Siri-Outhay, UnitedHealth Group

 

Ouraphone Siri-Outhay joined UnitedHealth Group in September 2008 as the Director of Diversity Recruiting. Previously, she was a Diversity Manager at Target, where she was responsible for diversity awareness and communications and diversity recruiting in Target’s stores, distribution centers, corporate headquarters and global offices.

 

Ouraphone brings over 17 years of retail experience to the company. She’s held various positions at Target in Internal Communications, Target Technology Services and worked on marketing and communications for the Target Adoption Network. 

 

Ouraphone graduated with a BA in Journalism from the University of Minnesota, with an emphasis in public relations.

 

 

Kari Christesen, Ecolab

 

Kari Christesen is a Talent Acquisition Specialist at Ecolab recruiting for Professional and Management level Finance & Accounting, Legal & Regulatory, Lean Six Sigma, and Human Resource positions.  She has been bringing great talent to Ecolab since 2007.  Prior to joining Ecolab, Kari was a Business Development Manager and Recruiter for a St. Louis based IT consulting firm.  Kari has over 7 years of recruitment experience for positions at all levels of an organization as well as within many functional areas.  Kari has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management from the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, MN.

 

 

Amy Perez Ortiz, Novations Group, Inc

 

Amy Perez Ortiz brings the skills and strengths of more than 15 years of experience and education in customer service, communication, and management to a diverse client base.

 

As Director of Client Services, Amy partners with clients to understand their business issues and goals to create inclusive and high performing work environments to provide maximum business results. She has a passion for quality program content that can expand diversity, optimize development and increase engagement. By understanding clients’ unique cultures and specific needs, Amy is able to articulate implementation steps to achieve goals. She works with each client to develop an action-oriented, practical solution with measurable, long-term results. Amy is an accomplished relationship manager, with experience in multiple industries and success in delighting the most discerning clients.

 

From her tenure with ProGroup through her current work with Novations, Amy’s clients have included Microsoft, AT&T, Target, Wells Fargo, Crowe Chizek, Thomson Reuters, Ernst and Young, Wellmark, AETNA and many others. Amy has served as a board member for the past five years on the University of St. Thomas Multicultural Forum committee.

 

Through everything she does, Amy is committed to creating positive change in the world. With a bilingual family, Amy regularly speaks Spanish in her home. She has participated in extensive cross-cultural research and is exploring writing a bilingual children’s book concerning cross-cultural relationships, marriages, and families.

 

 

Isaias Zamarripa, General Mills

 

Mr. Zamarripa received his bachelors from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He majored in Psychology and Communications. He then went straight through to Columbia University Business School to get his MBA in New York City. He concentrated in Human Resources. After his MBA he started his career as a Human Resources Generalist with Exxon Chemicals. While at Exxon he also had a stint as a Technical Salesman for the Automotive Sector. After Exxon he started his career in Executive Recruiting, which culminated in having his own search firm for six years. He then worked at Compaq computer as a consultant for experienced staffing before joining Amoco Corporation as a Manager of Staffing at their world headquarters in Chicago, Illinois for four years. Mr. Zamarripa has been the last five years with General Mills as the Director of Talent Acquisition. He has been part of the start up of two chapters of NSHMBA; the first being the Houston NSHMBA Chapter of which he was president in 1991 & 1992. Then in 2001 he helped start the Minneapolis/St Paul Chapter and he currently is the Chapter Advisor. Mr. Zamarripa is also on the board of Directors of the Chicago Latino Film Festival, which is the largest Hispanic Film Festival in the United States.